Treated iron ore.



E. F. GOLTRA.

TREATED IRON ORE.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 2.1910.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

NN QN WLM/wonen www EDWARD F. GOLTRA,y F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TREATED IRON ORE.

To all 'whom t may schaam:

cjitizen of the United States, andresident of StLouis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvenients in Treated Iron Ore, of which the following is a specification. 4 This `invention relates to furnace materials and more particularly to an iron ore which by treatment has been cleaned of itslgangue and rendered suitable for use m a blast furnace and in other metallurgical operations.

Some iron ores, as brown h ematite, contain large percentages of clay, ,`silica, etc., as a gangu'e'. Heretoforcthis "aligne has been separated in the hydraulic operations by the usual jigs, log washers, etc. The

above operations are not only .wasteful in ore and water, but the washed --ore is not thoroughly 'cleaned of its gangue since the water cannot reach the gangue in the crevices and pores in the ore, and due to this fact, the ore, even after it has been washed;

will be clogged up with clay gangue, so that it is dilicult to smelt the same. ln addition the productis wet, thus adding to its un` desirable characteristics. In furnaceV operations, -it is desirable that the ore be in a dry and porous condition and cleaned of its gangue as much as possible, so that it can be easily acted upon by the gases and the heat in thereducmg or other operations.

The gbjects of" this invention are there-V fore to produce a' new lfurnace material which will ave all pf the above named desirable characteristics, namely one that will be cleaned of its gangu'e and yinfa dry'and porous condition. A number of rocesses for producing this material have'l een described 1n my prior applications, Serial Nos.

536,403, med January 4, 1910; and 523,091,-

lled October 18, 1909. The processes as described in the above-applications may be.

summed up as followsf The ore and its gangue are heated ata temperature and for a period suflicient to render the gangue brittle and easily` separable from the ore. The ore its gangue are tumbled to shake loose' the gangue from the ore, and the ore and gnngve are subjected to` a strong air blast sons to sweep, .clean and remove the gangue from the ore.

In order that the material 4ni-'ay be more clearly described, one form of 'process and apparatus for producing the same' will be Specicationof Letters Patent.' Patented Aug. 20, 1912. .Application-med May 2, 1910. Serial No. 558,843.

described in detail, t-he process and apparatus being that shown and described in my prior application, 523,091.

Referring to the drawings which show one form of apparatus, 10 designates a runway in the form o f a tube or drum provided with a number of rings 11, 11, resting on a A number of sets of anti-friction rollers 12, 12.

The ends of the drum extend into stationary heads 13,' 14, which are bolted to a suitable frame-work, and the hopper 15 on head 13 discharges into the drum. A suction f an 16 is connected to thev head 14 land is driven by a suitable motor so as to create a strong blast lin and through the drum 10. A burner 17 extends through the head 1-3 so as to heat the blast. This burner may be anordina-ryoil burner provided with an air blast. The head 13 is further provided with a-n .air hole 21, or air holes; so as to allow the 'blast to enter 'near the burner and be heated thereby. The head is further provided with al discharge or outlet 18 for the cleaned ore. `The drum is inclined from the inlet to the discharge end and is rotated by a driving pinion 19 engaging a gear 20 The drum is lined with a f on the drum. suitable refractory lining 22. The ore as mined is crushed so as to reduce it to workable form. It is not necessary to pulverize it, but it is sutlicient it it can pass through a. two or twor and one-half inch mesh. This crushed ore is placed in t-iie' hopper 15 and is discharged into the drum 10.- The burner 17 furnishes the necessary heat and the temperature will be the greatest at the lower end of the drum, but at the upper end this temperature will be considerably reduced, so that the fresh wet ore will not be heated to a sufficient degree so as to hard bake the .gangue As the ore moves downwardly it will be tumbled and thrown around so as to knock loose all of theg-angue which clings to it, this gangue becoming more and more heated and more and more loose, dried `and pulverized as it proceeds toward the lower end of the drum. The ore is cleaned and washed of its gangue by the blast passing through the drum, the gangue being drawn otf by the strong blast which is created by the suction fan 16. The drum is made long enough and the'speed of rota- -tion is governed so'that at the time when the ore reaches the discharge 18 practically all of the gangue has been dried out and rendered separable', shaken off of the-"pre and drawnv otl' by the blast. Since the temperature will gradually increase from the upper to the lower end of the drum,t.he gangue is gradually dried and thus renv'dered very brittle, and due to this gradual increase', the gangue on the ore as it is admitted vfll not be subjected to the high temperature as would be the case if the burner 17 were placed at the upper end of the drum.

' During the operation, the heat Will drive off the moisture in the ore so as .to render the gangue brittle, and this heating is preterably carried. to such an. extent so as not only to drive oli the free moisture but also to drive ofi' the combined moisture or any other volatile matter which may be contained in the ore. The heat will not only render the clayey gangue. brittle but any hard stone contained in the ore will be sepa-rated. This stone gangue will sometimes occur in the form of layers. 'N ow, the heat will cause the ore and stone' to expand at different rates, and`- thus the stone will be Abroken and cracked off. In the tumbling operation, the ore and gangue will be thrown around and tumbled so as to thoroughly shake loose the 'gangue from the ore, and as this tumbling .actlon proceeds the gangue will be knocked ott` 'the-ore and will be `carried oi by the.

` strong blast passing throughthe drum. The

heat will crack'open the lumps of ore and expose all the gangue so as to thoroughly dry the same. The strong blast in passing over, through, and aroundth'e ore as it is `thrown around and tumbled vvill seek out the dried out and loosened gangue in, around and poi-es, and carry this gangue along with it leaving the heavier ore lumps to pass oil to the discharge chute.l It Willthu` be seen that the air blast Washes the ore and 'its gangue opies o! this patent maybe obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Washington. ZD. 0..

as in lthe water Washing process but the blast can enter the crevices in the ore Where the stream of Water cannot enter, thus thoroughly cleaning the ore of its gangue, and leaving it in an open and porous condition. The ore Will be further rendered porous by the expulsion of the volatile matter from the interior of the lumps. i

The cleaned ore as it leaves the apparatus,

4is in a condition to be used in the blast furnace, the steelfurnaces, and other metallurgical operations, and no preliminary calcinmg is necessary. The moisture, both re and combined, and other volatile matter have been driven ott', and the ore has been placed in a dr; and porous condition, which' is so desirable for furnace operations. Further, the ore has been cleaned of its ganglio and so the transportable Weight has been considerably reduced.

I have described one particular form of process for producing this'new material, but it will be obvious vthat this material may be obtained by other processes than described` and it is therefore to be understood that this material is not to be limited to lar'process. V

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A furnace material consist-ing of a concentrated iron or", said ore being calcined and freed from substantially all any particu- -gangue and substantially all free and combined moisture to render the ore porous and clean, substantially as described. l

In testimony whereof I allix my signature inpresence of two witnesses. and clinging to the ore and 1n the crevices v" EDWARD F. GOLTRA.

y Witnesses:

A. S. EATON, FRANK LUCAS.

Commissioner of ,'Patents.

dry 

